With the handicap ratings now published, Donn McClean flags up five Irish handicappers who might be worth a second look ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.
Silver Sheen (Jessica Harrington)
You can over-complicate the handicaps sometimes, trying to find the angles and the edges when, sometimes, the answer is more obvious than you think.
Silver Sheen has won his last three. He won his maiden hurdle at Wexford in October and followed up by landing a novices’ hurdle at Thurles in November, before qualifying for the Pertemps Final by winning a qualifier at Warwick in January.
He did well to win that day. In front from early, it didn’t look promising when he was passed on the run over the fourth last and third last flights. But Robbie Power was happy to allow the first two go on ahead before asking his horse for his effort in the home straight. When he did, the Sulamani gelding responded well. He stayed on strongly down the near side to get up and win by a neck from Doc Penfro, with One For The Team two and a half lengths back in third.
Jessica Harrington’s horse probably would have won by further had he not stumbled a little on landing over the final flight. He did well to recover his equilibrium, and to stay on as well as he did all the way to the line.
The form of that race has since been enhanced by third-placed One For The Team, who came out next time and won a good handicap hurdle at Newbury off a 2lb higher mark. Nick Williams’ horse is now rated 14lb higher than he was at Warwick.
The handicapper raised Silver Sheen by 6lb to a mark of 136, and that is just about perfect. It should be high enough to get him into the Pertemps Final, and it is low enough to give him a real chance. As a six-year-old, Irish-trained novice, he has a good profile for the race, and he has run just five times over hurdles, so there could be a fair bit more to come.
Front View (Joseph O’Brien)
Front View has options. Joseph O’Brien’s horse holds entries in the Coral Cup and the County Hurdle, and he is in the Imperial Cup at Sandown on the Saturday before Cheltenham, but the Martin Pipe Hurdle would be a good target for him, over an extended two and a half miles, given his rating of 139, 6lb below the ceiling for the race.
JP McManus’ horse shaped well in finishing second to Blue Sari in the bumper on Thyestes Chase day at Gowran Park on his racecourse debut in January last year and, after getting brought down in a bumper at Naas the following month, he was off the track until the Punchestown Festival at the end of April, when he returned to win his bumper.
He shaped promisingly behind Envoi Allen on his hurdling bow at Down Royal last November, and he stepped forward from that next time to get the better of his stable companion Uhtred in a maiden hurdle at Cork two weeks later, the pair of them finishing nicely ahead of the highly regarded Jon Snow. That form was enhanced when Uhtred went to Navan next time and won a listed bumper.
Front View didn’t race again until last Thursday, when he finished second to Five O’Clock in the Grade 3 Michael Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle at Thurles. The winner moved across him on the run between the last two hurdles that day, and he landed a little flat-footed over the final flight, so he did well to keep on as well as he did to finish second.
He saw out the two-mile-five-furlong trip well that day on soft ground, which augurs well for a Martin Pipe Hurdle, a race in which stamina is often crucial. Owner and trainer have other options in the Martin Pipe Hurdle, but they teamed up to win the race last year with Early Doors, and they would have a real chance of repeating the feat with Front View. A five-year-old who has raced just three times over hurdles, he has the potential to go beyond his handicap rating of 139.
Eclair De Beaufeu (Gordon Elliott)
Eclair De Beaufeu ran well for a long way in the County Hurdle last year. He travelled well through his race, he made nice ground on the run down the hill, he moved into the lead as they rounded the home turn and he kicked for home at the top of the home straight.
He had been just about caught by the pack by the time he got to the final flight and unseated his rider, but he travelled well enough for long enough to suggest that he can operate well under Cheltenham Festival conditions.
Gordon Elliott’s horse wasn’t beaten far by Notebook at Punchestown on his chasing bow this season and, after winning his beginners’ chase at Wexford impressively, he was sent off as favourite in front of Notebook for the Grade 2 Craddockstown Chase back at Punchestown. He was well beaten by Notebook that day, but he ran better than the bare form of the run in the Klairon Davis Chase next time suggests – he travelled like a likely winner at the third last fence – and he stepped forward nicely last time to win the Matheson Handicap Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival.
He was racing off a mark of 140 that day, he has been given a mark of 149 for the Grand Annual, but he won well last time, he appeared to win with at least a little more in hand than the two-and-a-half-length winning margin. He is only six and he has raced just five times over fences, so he has plenty of potential to progress again.
Galvin (Gordon Elliott)
Galvin is another horse who ran well in defeat at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. Gordon Elliott’s horse was travelling well in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, just behind the front rank, when he got the third last wrong, landed flat-footed and lost lots of momentum. You couldn’t have said that it was a race-losing error, but it didn’t help, he came under pressure almost immediately afterwards as he tried to recover his position and his momentum. He kept on over the last and up the run-in to take sixth place, just failing to catch Sams Profile for fifth.
A faller in Battleoverdoyen’s beginners’ chase at Galway on his chasing bow in October, he ran well for a long way in another beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse next time, a race that is working out really well. He was well beaten by Salsaretta at Punchestown last time, but he travelled well to the home turn and, not helped by a mistake at the second last fence, he kept on well to get the better of the talented Whisperinthebreeze for second place.
A British mark of 142 is fair, just 2lb higher than his Irish mark, and it is pretty much ideal for the Northern Trust Company Novices’ Handicap Chase, the old Close Brothers, which has a ceiling of 145. He has raced just three times over fences, and there is the prospect of more to come.
Ciel De Neige (Willie Mullins)
Ciel De Neige is another with plenty of options at the Cheltenham Festival, he holds entries in the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe Hurdle, but you have to think that the County Hurdle, over two miles, is a likely target.
Willie Mullins’ horse hasn’t yet won in seven attempts over hurdles, but he was unlucky not to win his maiden hurdle at Limerick at Christmas, and he ran a massive race in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury last time.
He looked a likely winner when he hit the front on the run to the final flight, but he appeared to get lonely when he was left in front on the run-in, and he was just run down close home by Pic D’Orhy. A 4lb hike for that takes him up to a mark of 139, which should see him get into the County Hurdle on a nice racing weight.
He ran a big race in the Fred Winter Hurdle last season on his debut for Willie Mullins to finish third behind Band Of Outlaws, so a return to the heat of the Cheltenham Festival should hold no fears.
Our man @CobdenHarry battles hard all the way to the line as Pic D'Orhy wins a closely contested Betfair Hurdle 💪pic.twitter.com/8WHRitArog
— Great British Racing (@GBRacing) February 8, 2020
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